Political Advisor to the Minister of Infrastructure Fatos Mani told Pristina based daily Gazeta Express that the works on the route to Plav continue with avoiding the protected area around the monastery. According to him, the opposition of the monastery to the construction of the road has a political character, writes today portal Kossev.

Mani confirmed that work on the road continues, but currently out of the work remained six kilometres from Decani. "The opposition of the monastery is wrong, detrimental to the freedom of movement, has nothing to do with the security of the monastery and as such is of a political character. The works continue from 6 kilometres further, avoiding the protected area of the monastery," Mani said on Sunday for Gazeta Express.

However, it turns out that this road is problematic due to the Law on Protected Areas that was previously adopted in the Assembly of Kosovo. The monastery demands the implementation of the law, they opposed the construction of the road for Plav and informed the international community about this.

"Construction in protected areas is prohibited by the Law on Protected Areas adopted by the Assembly of Kosovo. The violation of this law implies the refusal of the Kosovo Government to implement the decision of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo, which confirms the property rights of the Decane Monastery, and represents the most obvious violation of the Kosovo institutions," reads the reaction of the monastery in Decani.

Portal Kossev writes that the association of Kosovo's historians "Ali Hadri", a branch in Decani, demanded the organization of a great popular protest the ban on the construction of the Decani-Plav road.

The reaction of this association condemns the "campaign against the Decane-Plav road, initiated by the abbot of the Decani monastery, Sava Janjic".

Decani historians also demanded from an international factor "to distance themselves and not disturb the construction of the Decani-Plav national road”. “The anti-Albanian policy of the Decani Monastery every moment gets stronger, so we invite the Monastery and its staff to withdraw from dirty games that will cause the destabilization of the general order in Decane and its surroundings," it was also stated in the reaction, reports Kossev.

The Association "Ali Hadri" - a branch in Decani called on the political forces in Decane to unite and react against "the initiative of the great Serb-Janjic to stop the construction of the Decani-Plav road and demand the organization of a major national protest demanding the construction of the Decani-Plav road ".

You can read here the full diocesan communique published on Saturday: https://bit.ly/2sg5vj5

The OSCE Mission in Kosovo announced on Saturday that with a concern followed the road works in the protected area of the Visoki Decani monastery and welcomed the decision to terminate the work. The OSCE has confirmed that heavy machinery has been withdrawn from that zone and reminded that any works in that zone must be approved by the Implementation and Observation Council. Head of the European Union Office, Nataliya Apostolova and US Ambassador to Pristina, Greg Delawie, told the Kosovo authorities that they should abide by the law on the Special Protected Zone of the Visoki Decani monastery, national broadcaster RTS reported on Sunday.